Super crunchy Cornflakes ‘fried’ chicken (oven-baked)

Incredibly tender chicken with an ear-popping crunch! This chicken is just too good to be true. Healthier than the one from the fast-food joints while still delivering you more flavor and deliciousness!

Imagine you have one of those days when you reeeeally crave fried chicken! Sound familiar? You crave tender chicken with a crackling bite. Juicy chicken, crispy breading, golden and brown. You bite into it and hear this amazing cruuuuunch. Oh man. So good! Does your mouth start to water? I know mine does while writing this.

This chicken is crunchy as he**! Even though this ‘fried’ chicken skipped the deep-fryer the thick cornflakes crust gives you the same satisfying crunch that you love from a good fried chicken! So good and oh-so satisfying!

To make this crunchy dream come true, I had to try several different coatings and baking methods until I found something that really worked. In order to make the coating stick properly to the chicken, a “glue” of yogurt and egg is the way to go. For extra crunch, a mix of cornflakes and flour turned out the winning combination. As this chicken is oven-baked instead of fried a little spritz of cooking spray does wonders for an even golden-brown breading.

There is one ingredient here that seems a bit odd at first – pickle juice. If you read about US southern-fried chicken, you often come across buttermilk as an ingredient. The idea is that the tangy slightly acidic buttermilk tenderizes the meat. The same is true for the pickle juice, on top it adds tons of flavor! So whenever you have finished a glass of pickles, just keep the jar with the brine in the fridge. Two other uses for pickle juice: Try a pickle back! A shot of bourbon liquor, followed by a shot of pickle juice. Or try a salad with a gherkin-bacon-dijon-mustard vinaigrette. Check out my second book Flavor Math to understand why the pickle brine works amazingly together with whiskey.

Yes, this dish is definitely high in calories, but then again, it’s fried chicken… This doesn’t really come as a surprise, does it? 🙂 See it as a guilty pleasure treat for those days when you crave fried chicken. It’s still a lot healthier than the deep-fried version you get at Colonel Sanders’. Homemade and you know exactly what’s in there! No mystery meat, no highly processed ingredients (except for the cornflakes maybe), and definitely no additives. No trans-fats and less fat in general because it’s oven-baked, rather than deep-fried. Just like the Colonel’s chicken but then finger licking better!

500 grams of chicken for 2 people does definitely not sound like a lot, but the chicken has a really thick coating and will surely fill you up! You will wonder how you are able to eat a BUCKET of chicken in a fast food restaurant without feeling full.

I mean come on, look at it. You know this bad boy is crunchy as he**!!

Main dish for 2 hungry eaters. Add some sweet potato fries or coleslaw to make it a full-blown meal

Nutrition per serving: Calories: 1013; Total Fat: 58g; Saturated Fat: 16g; Monounsaturated Fat: 24g; Cholesterol: 293mg; Sodium: 1308mg; Carbohydrates: 46g; Dietary Fiber: 2g; Sugar: 3g; Protein: 74g. High in fat, high in sodium, but also high in deliciousness! A guilty pleasure treat that will really fill you up

Ingredients

pickle juice (brine) from 1 jar of gherkins

500g chicken wings

1 egg

100 ml full-fat yogurt

100g corn flakes

40g flour

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp paprika powder

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

Cooking spray (if you don’t have this, give it an ever so light drizzle of oil)

Marinate and coat some delicious chicken

In a bowl, mix the chicken pieces with the pickle juice and cover the bowl. Marinate for a few hours. If you are in a rush, 1 hour is also fine.

Preheat the oven to 200°c. Fan works best for crunchy and evenly browned chicken.

Drain the chicken pieces and discard the pickle brine. Add the yogurt and egg to the chicken. Mix everything well with your fingers until all chicken pieces are fully coated.

Make the breading by adding the cornflakes, flour as well as all the spices into a food processor. Pulse until the cornflakes are coarsely ground up and everything is well combined. Pour the coating into a shallow bowl.

Take one chicken wing out of the yogurt marinade. Allow the excess to drip off. Press the chicken into the cornflake-flour mixture and coat from all sides. Place on a lined baking tray.

Repeat with the remaining wings. Then bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Take the baking tray out of the oven. Spray the partly-baked chicken wings with the cooking spray. Return to the oven for another 15 minutes.

Dig into some delicious ridiculously crunchy chicken!

Comments are always welcome! What do you think of the pickle marinade? Have you ever used cornflakes as breading before? Check out some other delicious coatings here (almond crusted pork cutlet; or cocoa-crusted pork chop). What is your favorite spice-mix for fried chicken? We want to know it all! Leave a comment and make the world a more delicious place